Chobe National Park

Chobe National Park covers 11,700 square kilometres in northeastern Botswana and is renowned above all for its staggering elephant population — the largest concentration in Africa, with an estimated 50,000 individuals within the park and up to 130,000 in the greater Chobe-Linyanti ecosystem. The park's four distinct ecosystems — the Chobe Riverfront, the Savuti Marsh, the Linyanti swamps, and the hot, dry hinterland — each offer dramatically different safari experiences. The Chobe Riverfront, stretching along the Chobe River for approximately 60 kilometres near the town of Kasane, is the park's most accessible and popular section. Here, afternoon boat safaris reveal a breathtaking spectacle: hundreds of elephants swimming and wading across the river, buffalo herds stretching along the floodplain, hippo pods in the deeper channels, and fish eagles perched in waterside trees. The riverfront's combination of boat and vehicle safaris provides a diversity of perspectives unmatched in most African parks. The Savuti Marsh, 160 kilometres south of Kasane, is a remote and ruggedly beautiful area famous for its resident lion prides that have been documented hunting young elephants — a rare and extraordinary behaviour captured in several acclaimed wildlife documentaries. The marsh, fed by the enigmatic Savuti Channel (which has dried up and refilled multiple times over the past century in patterns that have baffled hydrologists), attracts seasonal concentrations of zebra, wildebeest, and predators during the dry months. Chobe offers the rare combination of water-based and land-based safari experiences, incredible elephant encounters, and genuine wilderness in the Savuti and Linyanti sections.